In her final college appearance in her home area, Fudd impresses on a familiar Washington, D.C., court as the Huskies remain undefeated.
Two things are true.
Good defense wins championships.
And good defense makes up for a rare stretch of poor shooting.
Both were the case Thursday night when No. 1 UConn topped Big East rival Georgetown 83-42 in Washington, D.C., despite 4-of-15 shooting and scoring just nine points in the third quarter. But they held the Hoyas to just eight in the period, building on their 31-point halftime lead.
It was the final college appearance in Washington for grad student Azzi Fudd, a Northern Virginia product who played her high school ball in the nation’s capital. She didn’t have her best shooting night – 8 of 19 – in front of an estimated 125 friends and family members, but still scored 19 points, pulled down six rebounds and added five assists.
“That’s insane,” Fudd said postgame in her on-court interview on truTV when told of the number of tickets left in her name.
“It’s always super special to be back home. To be in a familiar arena, see so many familiar faces. … Honestly, I felt the love from everyone.”
Outside of the third quarter, the rest of the game was a typical UConn masterpiece.
The Huskies (20-0, 10-0) had four runs in which they outscored the Hoyas at least 10-0. It was their 36th consecutive win overall and 41st straight over Georgetown (11-8, 4-6).
Georgetown is now 6-58 all-time against UConn, 4-23 on its home court. The Hoyas have not beaten the Huskies since 1993, when they won 64-62.
That year – 1993 – is the last time the Huskies were not ranked in the Associated Press Top 25.
On the defense
The Huskies entered the game with a margin of victory of 38.7 points per game and grew that with the 42-point differential on Thursday. It was their 10th consecutive win by at least 35 points.
And those numbers have been built by the UConn defense, which entered the game leading the nation with the fewest points allowed (average of 51.4 per game).
A sampling of Thursday night’s defensive highlights:
- Georgetown was held to 28.6% shooting (16 of 56)
- Georgetown was limited to one 3-point basket, which didn’t come until the final few minutes of the game (1 of 19)
- UConn forced 28 turnovers and scored 35 points
- The Huskies outscored the Hoyas 42-20 in the paint and 27-4 on fast breaks
- UConn stole the ball 19 times, with each starter recording at least two
On the offense
Sarah Strong led the Huskies with 25 points, adding eight rebounds, five assists and four steals. Serah Williams scored 12 points and had six rebounds, four blocks and three steals.
For Georgetown, Brianna Scott was the leading scorer with eight points. Destiny Agubata led the team with nine rebounds, and no player had more than one assist.
Next up for the Huskies
UConn will play at Seton Hall (14-5, 8-2) in South Orange, N.J., on Saturday at noon ET. The game was moved up 24 hours because of a potentially dangerous winter storm expected to pummel the East Coast with snow on Sunday into Monday.
Seton Hall is in second place in the conference, tied with Villanova. The Huskies defeated the Wildcats 99-50 a week ago.
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